The inventor of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, has died aged 94, Russian officials say. The automatic rifle he designed became one of the world’s most familiar and widely used weapons. Its comparative simplicity made it cheap to manufacture, as well as reliable and easy to maintain. Although honoured by the state, Kalashnikov made little money from his gun. He once said he would have been better off designing a lawn mower. Kalashnikov was admitted to hospital with internal bleeding in November. He died on Monday in Izhevsk, Udmurtia, where he lived, an official there said. Matching the Germans…

QuestCinq.com By WWC Simon* The Christmas Miracles The first miracle, I want to happen is to SNOW in South Florida. They say it will never snow but, maybe, it might happen. That would be my Christmas miracle. And if it doesn’t happen, I will keep on dreaming because it may happen one day (Hope, believe and dream). If it happens, I will thank two people: God and Santa! Oh! Another miracle: if we can celebrate with the whole family, have everything and have a lot of money. But the only person I can thank if it happens is God…

Clothing firm Joseph A. Bank has rejected a $1.54 billion acquisition bid by rival Men’s Warehouse, marking a new chapter in the Wall Street suit wars. The Hampstead, Md.-based firm announced Monday that its board of directors had unanimously turned down the Nov. 26 takeover bid after concluding that the offer “significantly undervalued the company.” Men’s Wearhouse had offered to acquire Joseph A. Bank for $55 per share in cash, a bid that represented an implied value of roughly $1.2 billion for the takeover target. Men’s Wearhouse said at the time its bid was 32% over the closing share price…

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani takes questions from journalists during a news conference in New York September 27, 2013. CREDIT: REUTERS/ADREES LATIF (Reuters) – Iran wants to improve bilateral relations with the United States and other Western powers, President Hassan Rouhani said in an editorial published in a German newspaper on Monday, broaching an issue he has so far avoided since he took office. Rouhani won a landslide election victory in June promising a policy of engagement with the West and has had regular diplomatic contacts with the United States, but they have been limited to negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program. “We…